The Woman Member of Parliament for Pallisa District, Hon. Kaala Kevin Ojinga, has urged parents to enroll their children in schools they can afford, following the release of the 2024 Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) results.
Speaking at Pallisa Town Council Grounds on Friday, Hon. Kaala made this appeal while rewarding top PLE performers with mattresses and blankets in the third edition of her annual recognition program.
“I sometimes feel hurt when I see parents excited about their children’s good performance and then enrolling them in expensive schools they cannot afford. This often leads to students being withdrawn after just one term due to financial constraints. Instead, I advise parents to take their children to affordable government schools,” she emphasized.
Hon. Kaala, who studied at Kamuge Primary School and Bugwere High School, highlighted her own academic journey, mentioning that her husband, Lawrence Ojinga, also attended Kaucho Primary School in Pallisa before making it to Makerere University.
“Success is not about expensive schools but commitment and hard work,” she added.
The MP reiterated her commitment to keeping the pledge she made during her 2021 campaign to reward outstanding students and teachers, promising to sustain the initiative throughout her tenure.
She urged Pallisa residents to trust her for another term to continue implementing impactful programs.
“I am not like other politicians who seek publicity for every act of community service. Many Pallisa residents I have supported, including patients referred to Mulago Hospital, appreciate my efforts,” Hon. Kaala remarked.
Mr. Galandi Alpha, head teacher of Odwarat Primary School, lauded Hon. Kaala’s recognition of teachers, saying it would serve as motivation for others to improve performance.
Pallisa District Education Officer (DEO), Mr. Omutuju Ronald, challenged all stakeholders to actively support education.
Despite only 78 students achieving Division One, the district saw an improvement, with the number of failures reducing from 1,000 last year to 600 this year.
“I appreciate Hon. Kaala’s efforts in rewarding teachers for their hard work. However, I appeal for the MPs’ pledge of a multipurpose printer to be fulfilled. This would greatly assist in producing test scripts for learners,” Mr. Omutuju stated.
He also urged private school proprietors to register all children, regardless of academic ability.
“Many slow learners are rejected by private schools and forced into government schools, which disrupts their education and affects their performance,” he added.
In response, Hon. Kaala assured that three of the five MPs in Pallisa had honored the pledge and vowed to ensure the printer is procured before the end of their term.
Mr. Okia John, the Principal Assistant Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), called on Hon. Kaala and other leaders to advocate for an increase in the teacher recruitment ceiling.
“It is unfortunate that Pallisa has a shortage of 500 teachers, leaving one teacher to handle up to 200 learners per class. Poor performance is also linked to inadequate scholastic materials, lack of feeding, and pupil indiscipline, with some students engaging in drug abuse in trading centers,” Mr. Okia lamented.
Pallisa Deputy Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Hajjat Aisha Nkusi, who presided over the event, warned head teachers in government-aided schools against extorting money from parents.
“The President introduced Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE) to support poor parents. If parents agree in meetings to contribute to school needs, do not punish children by sending them home for fees. Instead, use School Management Committees (SMC), Parent-Teacher Associations (PTA), or other task forces to engage parents directly,” Hajjat Nkusi instructed.
Isa Emorut, the manager of Team Kaala, praised the MP for keeping her campaign promises.
“Many leaders fail to deliver on their promises, but Hon. Kaala has consistently fulfilled hers. She is also the only MP who has invested in providing chairs for community social functions. This is why I urge the people of Pallisa to re-elect her,” Mr. Emorut concluded.
About Author
